Transit seat with contoured plastic shell

ABSTRACT

A two-passenger seat for public transportation vehicle includes a frame of rectangular tubing with a recessed seat area for receiving a one-piece molded plastic shell which is provided with contoured seat and back areas for each of two side-by-side passengers. A single pedestal having a rectangular cross section elongated in the fore-and-aft direction is located beneath the seat spaced inwardly of the aisle end. Separate replaceable cover inserts are received in the seat and back contoured portions which act to retain passengers in place during turns while providing versatility and modification possibilities in seat and back covers.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present invention relates to passenger seats; and more particularly,it relates to a two-passenger seat designed for use in publictransportation vehicles, such as buses, rapid transit trains, etc.

It is desirable to provide such a seat that is not only economical tomanufacture, rugged and durable in use, safe in the event of a crash,and easy to maintain, but it is also important to provide versatility inthe seating and to have a pleasant aesthetic appearance.

In connection with safety, the primary objective to prevent injury is toretain the occupant in his seat under conditions where the vehiclegenerates forces due to deceleration or component lateral forces due toa change of direction, as in sharp turns.

A properly designed seat contour, with sufficient inclined area willretain the occupant up to twice the acceleration of gravity, g, whereasa poorly developed contour will not prevent the occupant from slidingoff the seat at forces below 1 g.

The seat must also absorb energy and moderate the magnitude of energytransmitted to an occupant. The seat must act as a compartment torestrain the occupant and prevent his becoming a projectile in the eventof a crash. The seat must serve as a protective shield to ward off blowsfrom projections of collapsing structures. Above all the seat must bestructurally crashworthy to provide desirable deformationcharacteristics and still sufficiently strong to prevent disintegration.

The rear surface of seat should not only be aesthetically pleasing butit should be devoid of hazardous members that could become lethalobjects in the event of crash.

The transit seat of the present invention provides a frame ofrectangular tubing having a recessed seat area for receiving a one-piecemolded plastic shell which is provided with contoured seat and backareas for each of two side-by-side passengers held by the seat. A singlepedestal having a rectangular cross section elongated in thefore-and-aft direction is located beneath the seat spaced inwardly ofthe aisle end of the seat for supporting it. The other end of the seatis preferably connected to a wall of the vehicle.

Separate replaceable cover inserts are received in the contouredportions of the seat and back; and the contours are such that eventhough a cover insert is attached to the seat, there is still sufficientcontour to retain passengers in place during turns of the vehicle. Thishas been found to be of significant advantage, particularly in buses andother public transporation vehicles wherein the seats are locatedrelatively closely behind a forward seat. In other words, an aisle railneed not be provided with each seat, and this facilitates ingress andegress, while at the same time, a passenger has a feeling of stabilityduring the various conditions of riding.

Any number of different types of cover inserts may be secured to theplastic shell, and this adds versatility to the use of the basic seat.For example, in areas where vandalism to public vehicles may be high, aplastic insert panel may be used. On the other hand, where wear is ofprimary concern, a vinyl-clad steel is preferred for each insert. A noteof luxury may be added by padding the insert panels. This featurefurther adds to the versatility in the aesthetic appearance of the seatbecause, without significantly adding to cost and permitting the propercontour for all inserts for lateral retention of occupants. The colorscheme can be varied from bus to bus or within a given bus, and theentire color scheme of the seating may be changed with minimal cost.

A grab rail of round tubular steel grabs is inserted into open ends ofsquare side frame tubes beneath a top flange in the shell, and thissoftens the lines of the seat and enhances its appearance by hiding fromview this connection. Thus, square or rectangular tubing may be used forthe frame with its greater strength per unit cross sectional area, andround tubing may be used for the grab rail since it is more comfortable.

Another feature of the invention is that it permits the construction ofa seat employing a plastic shell which is securely supported by itsframe, so that the seat will not disintegrate in the event of a crash.Toward this end, the shell is secured at the top of the back and alongthe leg support bar.

The pedestal is secured to a transverse frame member spaced inwardlyfrom the aisle, as mentioned, and this removed under-seat obstructionsto persons moving up and down the aisle, as has been commmon in certainprior seats. Further, the pedestal is provided with a smoothly curvedfoot pad to facilitate cleaning around the aisle, and to eliminate anydirt-catching projections or recesses. To further facilitate cleaning,the one-piece plastic shell when fitted with properly contoured insertpanels also does not have any dirt-catching pockets.

Certain aspects of the present invention are disclosed in but notclaimed in an application in which I am coinventor, namely theapplication of Barecki and Karrip for "Rapid Transit Seating," Ser. No.157,345, .Iadd.now U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,198, .Iaddend.which is directedto a cantilever transit seat.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentto persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description ofa preferred embodiment accompanied by the attached drawing whereinidentical reference numerals will refer to like parts in the variousfigures.

THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a transit seat, taken from theaisle, constructed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the transit seat of FIG. 1, alsotaken from the aisle;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 of a modification of theseat, excluding a rear cover panel;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are respectively plan, front, and aisle side views ofthe seat of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 7-13 are similar sectional views taken through the sight line 7--7of FIG. 4 to show different methods of attaching insert panels,depending upon the construction of the panel;

FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of an entire seat constructedaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified frame for theseat including a continuous square tube around the front and sides ofthe frame;

FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken through the front stretcher rail ofthe seat of FIG. 15; and

FIG. 17 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the sight line17--17 of FIG. 4; and including the final extrusion for the embodimentof FIG. 15.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a transit seat generally designated 20 includesa square tubular frame 21 supported by a column or pedestal 22 atop anoval flared foot 23 preferably having two mounting holes 24 and 25. Thecolumn has a rectangular cross section which is elongated in thefore-and-aft direction of the seat. The frame 21 is attached to the wallof the vehicle by two L-shaped wall mounting brackets 26 and 27; and theseat of this embodiment is provided with a round tubular grab rail 28inserted into open upper ends 29 and 30 of a pair of side L-shapedsquare tubes 31, 32 as best seen in FIG. 14. The frame 21 supports asingle-piece Fiberglas shell 33 preferably decoratively covered by seatinsert panels 34, 35 as well as back insert panels 36, 37 forside-by-side passenger accommodation. The insert panels are received inappropriately provided recesses 38, 39, 40 and 41. A suitably shapedback cover panel 42 is also provided, but may be eliminated in theembodiment of FIG. 3, which is otherwise similar.

The contouring of the recesses 38-41, even when the associated insertpanels 34, 37 have been secured to the shell, is maintained; and this isconsidered an important feature of the present invention in that itprovides for retention of the seated passengers even during sharp turns.That is to say, the passenger has a sense of stability in riding, somuch so that the need for a side arm rail is obviated. This is importantin the case of transit seating because of the close spacing between oneseat and the seat in front of it. If a side rail were included, ingressor egress to the seat would be partially obstructed. Thus, the insertpanels 34-37 are characterized in that they conform to the contour oftheir associated recesses; and, secondly, they are relatively thin andof substantially uniform thickness so as to maintain their respectivecontours and retain the body of a seated passenger.

The plastic shell 33 rests on a raised transverse front rail 43 (i.e., afront stretcher tube) of square tubing and a similar upper rear rail orstretcher tube 44 and is attached to the square tubular frame by meansof several tubular rivets 45 inserted through the side flanges 46 of theshell and the L-shaped end tubes 31 and 32. The holes 47 for the tubularrivets are drilled at the time of assembly so that there does not haveto be any matching of holes in the two joining pieces. Tubular rivetsare purposely omitted from the front edge flange 48 to avoid anysnagging of clothing.

A lower rear cross tube or stretcher tube 50 is purposely depressed inits center portion in order to provide clearance for the bucket-typerecesses 38 and 39 of the shell. This can be seen best in FIG. 3. Thiscross tube 50 is connected to the front cross tube 43 by a forwardlyextending tube 51. The tube 51 adds rigidity to the frame structure andalso serves to strengthen the location at which the supporting column 22is secured to the frame. The back cover panel 42 is attached to theframe 21 with thread cutting screws 52; and it is also preferably moldedfrom a single sheet of plastic, such as Fiberglas.

Although the invention is not so limited, there are three types ofinsert panels, illustrated in FIGS. 7 through 13. A padded insert panel53 (FIGS. 7 and 8) are for more luxurious coaches. It consists of a dieformed steel panel 54 provided with several weld tee nuts 55, a foam pad56, and suitable upholstery material 57 which is stretched over the foampad and cemented to the underside of the steel panel 58. The tee nutsfit into holes 59 in the shell recess 38 and are held in place by screws60 which are preferably Phillips recess type so that they cannot beeasily removed by using a small coin as a screw driver. Alternatively,tamper-proof screws which require a special wrench may be employed.

A second type of insert panel is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. As seentherein, a vinyl-clad steel panel 61 has a backing strip of rubber 62 toraise the panel to the level of the shell 33 while acting as ashock-absorbing cushion. It is attached to the shell by the use of teenuts 63 and washers 64 used as spacers.

In neighborhoods where vandalism may be expected, a Fiberglas insertpanel 65 may be used as a decorative panel, FIGS. 11 through 13. Thepanel need not be very thick, so there is a peripheral strip of rubber66 under the edge to raise the panel up to the level of the shellsurface. The tee nuts 67 are set into the Fiberglas panel when the panelis formed.

FIG. 13 shows the use of studs 68 and acorn nuts 69 in place of tee nutsand screws. This substitution may be used on any of the disclosedvariations.

Referring now to FIG. 15 a variation of the seat frame is shown anddesignated by reference numeral 70. The seat frame 70 includes acontinuous square tube 71 which forms the front 72 and sides 73 and 74of the frame, with a separate top rail 75 at the upper rear of theframe. The curved U shaped tube 71 terminates at the upwardly facingportions adjacent the ends of the rear tube 75 to receive the ends of around tubular grab rail similar to the grab rail 28, shown in FIG. 14.The rest of the frame construction is similar to that shown in FIG. 14.

A rigid vinyl extrusion 78 is shown exploded off the front portion 72 ofthe continuous square rail, in FIG. 15, and is shown attached to it inFIG. 16. The extrusion 78 acts as a cushion and minimizes wear at alocation of stress in the shell/frame interface. It also raises thelevel of the front portion 72 of the rail 71.

In FIG. 17 the front portion 72 of the continuous rail 71 is shown withthe rigid vinyl extrusion 78 on it, and then the Fiberglas shell 33 inplace on the extrusion. As in the earlier version, the only place thatthe shell rests on the frame are along the extrusion 78 at the front ofthe seat and along the top rail 75 at the upper rear. The Fiberglasshell is attached to the frame in the same manner as before with tubularrivets 45 along the sides 46 and upper rear edge flange 49 of the shell.

I claim:
 1. A transmit seat for accommodating a plurality of passengersside-by-side and having an aisle side and a wall side comprising: atubular frame including first and second side members formed in thegeneral shape of a L to provide seat and back portions; a firststretcher tube interconnecting the forward ends of said seat portions ofsaid side frame members; a second stretcher tube interconnecting theupper ends of said side frame members; a third stretcher tube connectingsaid side members at the rear of said seat portion thereof and defininga central recess; a forwardly extending tubular frame memberinterconnecting said first stretcher tube with the depressed portion ofsaid transverse tubular frame member and located at a position spacedinwardly of the aisle side of said seat; means for securing the sideframe member adjacent said wall side of said seat to the wall of avehicle; a single pedestal connected to said frame for attachment to thefloor of a vehicle and extending downwardly from the interconnection ofsaid .[.depressed portion.]. .Iadd.central recess .Iaddend.of said thirdstretcher tube and a rear end of said forwardly extending frame member;and a single-piece plastic shell .Iadd.restingly .Iaddend.secured tosaid frame only at said first and second stretcher tubes; said plasticshell providing individual contoured recesses for receiving inserts andretaining passengers in position during turns.
 2. The seat of claim 1wherein said first and second L-shaped side frame members define upperrear openings located beneath an upper rear flange of said shell; saidseat further comprising a tubular grab rail of round cross sectionextending behind said seat and upwardly of the back portion thereofreceived in the openings of said side frame members in an out-of-sightlocation.
 3. The seat of claim 1 further comprising a smoothly curvedbase plate attached to the floor of said vehicle adjacent said pedestalto facilitate cleaning of the floor of said vehicle; and bolt means forsecuring said base plate to said floor at locations fore and aft of saidpedestal.
 4. The seat of claim 3 wherein said pedestal is characterizedin having a rectangular cross section, the longitudinal directionthereof extending in the fore-and-aft direction of said seat.
 5. Theseat of claim 1 wherein said seat is characterized as having a singletubular member forming said L-shaped angle members and said firststretcher thereof, said seat further including a vinyl plastic extrusionspaced between front stretcher tube of said frame and said shell tocushion the same.